There was submitted a report by the Director of Children's Services relative to a proposed increase in the sustainable rate paid by the Council to approved funded providers for the provision of early learning and childcare. The report set out the proposed rates to be paid for any child aged three to five years and eligible children aged two to three years who had been accepted for funding under the Council’s framework. It was proposed that the new rate be effective from 1 April 2025.

DECIDED:

(a) That the position of COSLA and the Scottish Government with regards to the sustainable rate paid to approved funding providers be noted;

(b) That an increase in the sustainable hourly rate paid to Renfrewshire Council’s approved funding providers for the provision of funded early learning and childcare from £6.45 to £6.74 effective from 1 April 2025 for any child aged 3 to 5 years accepted for funding under the Council’s framework be approved; and 

(c) That an increase in the sustainable hourly rate paid to Renfrewshire Council’s approved funding providers for the provision of funded early learning and childcare from £8.50 to £8.88 effective from 1 April 2025 for any eligible child aged 2 to 3 years accepted for funding under the Council’s framework be approved.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children's Services relative to delivery of the Children's Services Service Improvement Plan 2024/27 during the 12-month period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025. The report provided details of the key achievements of the service over the period, full details of which were appended to the report, a progress update on implementing the action plan linked to the 2024/27 Service Improvement Plan and an assessment of performance in relation to the service scorecard of core performance indicators. 

DECIDED:

(a) That the content of the report be noted; and

(b) That the achievements of Children’s Services during 2024/25 be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children's Services relative to the Children's Services Service Improvement Plan 2025/28. The report highlighted that the Service Improvement Plan 2025/28, a copy of which was attached as Appendix 1 of the report, was designed to sit beneath the Council Plan, Community Plan, Risk Management Plan, and the Workforce Plan to form a suite of documents which provided the strategic direction for the service.  The Service Improvement Plan identified the priorities being addressed, the key tasks to be implemented, the implementation timetable and the measures of success. It was highlighted that a mid-year progress update on the Plan would be submitted to a meeting of this Policy Board in the autumn of 2025.

DECIDED:

(a) That the content of the Children’s Services 2025/28 Service Improvement Plan, as set out at Appendix 1 to the report, be approved;

(b) That the changes to the action plan and performance indicators, as set out in Section 5 of the report be approved; and

(c) That it be noted that mid-year progress of the Service Improvement Plan, with updates to the Performance Indicators and Action Plan, would be reported to this Policy Board in the Autumn of 2025.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children's Services relative to the destination and attainment of school leavers in 2023/24. The report provided commentary on the data released by the Scottish Government around a number of key measures: leavers' destinations; attainment in literacy and numeracy; improving attainment for all; attainment versus deprivation; and breadth and depth.

DECIDED:

(a) That the content of the report be noted; and

(b) That the efforts of Renfrewshire's young people and the school staff and partners in bringing about the reported results be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children's Services relative to the main areas of progress in terms of the Council's inclusion portfolio since August 2024. Updates were provided in terms of the staged intervention framework; transition arrangements between early years and Primary 1 and Primary 6/7 to S1; the joint inspection of children at risk of harm and the National Thematic Inspection; universal approaches to inclusion; the role of the CAMHS Education Advisor; the Neurodevelopmental Pathway; the whole family wellbeing fund; parent/carer complaints; and the Parent Ambassador Group.

DECIDED: That the very positive progress the inclusion portfolio continued to make to improve outcomes for children and young people be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children's Services relative to the development of the business case framework which formed part of the Council's Learning Estate Strategy.  

The Head of Education (Strategy and Improvement) gave a presentation which supplemented the report and provided detail on the four stages of the framework: strategic case for change; outline business case; full business case; and final delivery business case, together with the potential timeline and current position of each school within the priority ranking. Further detail in terms of the timeline for each geographic area and the current status of the Paisley Grammar School Community Campus, Park Mains High School extension and internal interventions and the new primary school in Dargavel was provided at Appendices 1 and 2 of the report respectively. 

DECIDED:

(a) That the business case development framework, as set out in the report, be noted;

(b) That the proposed groupings for progressing business cases, and the provisional timeline associated with these, as set out in Appendix 1 of the report, be noted; and

(c) That the update for the current Learning Estate Programme, as set out in Appendix 2 of the report be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children's Services relative to the results of an engagement exercise, carried out in order to choose a name for the new primary school in Dargavel Village, Bishopton.  The report detailed the engagement process undertaken and it was noted that the name 'Thistle Primary School' received the most votes, 38% of the 1,934 votes cast.

DECIDED: That Thistle Primary School be approved as the name for the new non-denominational primary school in Dargavel Village, Bishopton.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children's Services relative to the Council's Duty of Candour Policy and the requirement to provide an annual report setting out details on the number of incidents or events where the duty of candour was triggered, how the policy was followed in these incidents and any learning from the incidents.  The Duty of Candour – Annual Report 2024/25, attached at Appendix 1 of the report, advised that there were no adverse incidents which constituted a duty of candour response during the reporting period.

DECIDED: 

(a) That the annual duty of candour report for the period April 2024 to March 2025 be noted; and

(b) That it be noted that there were no adverse incidents which constituted a duty of candour response during the period April 2024 to March 2025.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children's Services relative to the outcome of Renfrewshire’s National Thematic Inspection which was carried out by His Majesty’s Inspectorate during week commencing 6 October 2024.  The inspection report was set out at Appendix 1 of the report and detailed areas of good practice identified in the inspection together with points identified for action and areas identified as good practice worth sharing. It was noted that no other Scottish Council was mentioned as a good practice example in the national thematic inspection report more frequently than Renfrewshire.

DECIDED: That the very positive work of the central team to support establishments with the implementation of effective improvement planning and standards and quality reporting; self-evaluation and quality assurance; professional learning; and universal and targeted support and challenge be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children's Services relative to the results of an inspection of Mossvale Primary School and Early Learning and Childcare Class carried out by Education Scotland during January 2025.  The letter sent by Education Scotland to the parents and carers of pupils detailing the outcome of the inspection and highlighting four areas of key strength and two areas for further improvement, was set out at Appendix 1 of the report.

DECIDED: That the key strengths in the Education Scotland report on Mossvale Primary School and Early Learning and Childcare Class be noted and celebrated and the area for further improvement be recognised.